Officials investigate cop's shooting of dog on North Side

Officials are investigating the shooting of a miniature bull terrier in the Uptown neighborhood by a Chicago police officer who said the dog was unleashed and running toward him.

The officer shot the dog, named Colonel, around 3 p.m. Saturday while writing a ticket for the owner's van that was blocking the sidewalk in the 800 block of West Buena Avenue, according to police.

A neighbor hanging Christmas lights alerted the dog's owner, Al Phillips, that he was getting a ticket, police said. Phillips and Colonel came out of the house and the dog ran down toward the officer, police said.

"He shot the dog, and then he just quite calmly returned to writing the ticket, like nothing had happened,” Phillips told WGN-Channel 9. “One slug hit him in the leg, and the other splintered and went into his abdomen."

The neighbor later told police that the officer yelled something like, “Grab your dog” twice, then fired at the dog. The family took the dog to a veterinarian and he is expected to survive.

Phillips' daughter Morgan said the dog was just wagging his tail.

“I could see if the dog was big and ferocious and ran up to him and was growly and barking and biting," she said. "But when a dog walks out, it’s wagging its tail — you pull out a gun and start shooting, in a North Side, quiet neighborhood, we have a bigger problem than a puppy getting shot."

On Monday, two officers went to the house and issued a citation for the dog being unleashed.